WASHINGTON, USA — President Donald Trump on Wednesday, January 8, 2026, signed an executive order directing the United States to suspend participation in 66 international organisations, significantly expanding his administration’s retreat from multilateral institutions, according to a statement released by the White House.
The order followed an internal review of American involvement in international bodies and applies to a mix of United Nations agencies, treaty frameworks and non-U.N. organisations.
A White House announcement stated that the administration had concluded the affected institutions no longer served U.S. interests.
Scope of the Withdrawal
The memorandum covers 31 United Nations entities and 35 organisations outside the U.N. system.
Many of those listed are agencies, commissions and advisory panels associated with climate policy, labour standards, migration and global governance.
Among the bodies named are the U.N. Population Fund; the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change; the United Nations University; the International Trade Centre; U.N. Trade and Development; and panels of the U.N. Economic and Social Council covering Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, and Western Asia.
The order also applies to the International Law Commission.
Non-U.N. organisations affected include the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the Global Counterterrorism Forum, the Global Forum on Migration and Development, the International Renewable Energy Agency and the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration viewed the institutions as failing to justify continued American involvement.
“The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms, and general prosperity,” he said in a statement.
Climate and Population Agencies
The withdrawal from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change represents a further step by the administration away from international climate agreements.
The 1992 treaty underpins global climate negotiations and forms the legal foundation of the Paris climate agreement, from which Mr. Trump withdrew the United States shortly after returning to office.
Gina McCarthy, who served as White House national climate adviser under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., criticised the decision.
“This Administration is forfeiting our country’s ability to influence trillions of dollars in investments, policies, and decisions that would have advanced our economy and protected us from costly disasters wreaking havoc on our country,” she said in a statement.
The administration’s decision also includes ending U.S. support for the U.N. Population Fund, an agency providing sexual and reproductive health services globally.
Mr Trump cut funding for the agency during his first term, and Republican officials have accused it of involvement in “coercive abortion practices” abroad.
A State Department review conducted during the Biden administration found no evidence supporting those claims, and funding was restored in 2021.
Continuation of a Broader Shift
The latest order builds on earlier actions taken since Mr. Trump returned to the White House nearly a year ago.
His administration has announced plans to leave the World Health Organization, the Paris climate agreement and the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO.
It has also halted U.S. engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council and extended a suspension of funding for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.
Administration officials have said the United States would instead prioritise participation in selected U.N. bodies viewed as strategically important, including those involved in setting global standards where Washington competes with Beijing, such as the International Telecommunications Union, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization.
Reactions and International Context
Daniel Forti, head of U.N. affairs at the International Crisis Group, said the policy reflected a hardening approach to multilateral engagement.
“I think what we’re seeing is the crystallization of the U.S. approach to multilateralism, which is ‘my way or the highway,’” he said.
The pullback has coincided with reductions in U.S. foreign assistance, including cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which several nongovernmental organisations say have led to project closures worldwide.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Trump questioned the reliability of NATO in a post on his Truth Social platform, expressing doubt that the alliance would come to the defence of the United States if required.
The remarks followed comments by Denmark’s prime minister warning that a U.S. military attack on Greenland could effectively end the alliance.
January 20 will mark the first anniversary of Mr Trump’s second presidential term.
